The Birth of the Baseball Hall of Fame: Legends, Myths, and Cooperstown’s Historic Opening

[00:00:00] Picture this, a small town in New York gets transformed overnight and becomes a heartbeat of America's pastime. And really sets up how we celebrate sports and the people that participate. On June 1939, Cooperstown, New York was officially dedicated as the Baseball Hall of Fame, the first of its kind that would include legend origins, highly debated elections, and enshrined sports that fans can forever visit.

[00:00:30] Today we're going to dive into how the Baseball Hall of Fame started and how it's grown to be what it is today on Daily Sports History. Let's go! Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide as you daily learn more about sports history, increasing your sports knowledge.

[00:00:55] As we dive into Cooperstown. For us to dive into the Hall of Fame, we've got to go behind the visionary. And that was Stephen Clark, who was born in Cooperstown in the late 1800s to a wealthy family and was the heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune. Right guys? You wouldn't think that a sewing machine fortune would lead to the Hall of Fame.

[00:01:20] But he would go on to graduate from Yale and attend Columbia Law School and have a lot of interest in art and business, become a publisher. And he had a lot of civic pride for his hometown, Cooperstown. He helped build one of the major hotels in town, supported the hospital, funded museums. And by the 1930s, Cooperstown was a picturesque little place. But the economy was stagnant in the village. And Clark was seeking a way to revolutionize his hometown.

[00:01:49] And he saw an opportunity when he discovered that the legend of Alpner Doubleday, who, quote, invented baseball, that's for another story, was from his town. So Clark proposed to have a museum of Hall of Fame to celebrate baseball. And the aim was to boost tourism to his town and honor America's pastime.

[00:02:12] He personally funded the construction of the building and leveraged his wealth and influence to make the project a reality. But his vision went beyond just a museum. It was a living monument to what would enshrine the game's greatest players and contributors for future generations. And his idea grew a lot of support.

[00:02:33] And he gained traction with the baseball leadership and the Baseball Writers Association of America, who would become the voters for who would be enshrined in the Hall of Fame. And the plan was to hold a national election to select the first inductees in ensuring the legitimacy and the excitement of the Hall of Fame. And would drive tourism and money to his town that he loved. So in 1936, they held the very first election for the Hall of Fame.

[00:03:02] Now, this was probably the hardest vote ever for the Hall of Fame because you had everyone that had played baseball for the first 60 years of professional baseball. And voters could select up to 10 candidates of the modern area from 1900 on to be inducted. And to be inducted, they needed to be on 75% of the ballots. And they were able to get a very good first class. Ty Cobb got the most votes with 98%, 222 votes.

[00:03:30] Followed by Babe Ruth, Hornace Wagner, Christy Matthews, and Walter Johnson. Now, this was a surprise. Many thought Babe Ruth would be the outright getter. But Ty Cobb got the most votes. And gave an unsurprisingly good publicity to the Hall of Fame. It created a discussion about it. A debate. Who should get in? Who should not? And that's something that still happens.

[00:03:57] So in the next class, they added in Knapp, Joey, Trish Speaker, and the legend Ty Young. Along with managers Connie Mack, John McGraw, and league founders Morgan Bunkley, and Byron Johnson. Next year, they focused more on the pioneers. So they've led in Alex Cartwright, who developed early rules. Henry Chadwick, who is the inventor of the box score. And pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander.

[00:04:24] And the next year was probably one of the biggest years for them to add into it. They added Eddie Collison, Willie Keller, George Sizzler, and Lou Gehrig, whose career had ended early due to his ALS diagnosis. So the threshold to get into this was everyone that voted would vote on who they wanted to be in the Hall. And you had to get at least 75% of the votes. If you didn't get it, you didn't get in. But you can be on the ballot for next year. It would go on that way for years and years.

[00:04:52] So these were the first three inducting classes into the Hall of Fame. And on June 12, 1939, they actually opened and dedicated Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame. It was a historic day. 15,000 fans joined. Baseball legends were there. Dignitaries were there. All gathered to dedicate the National Baseball Hall of Fame and museum. And the streets were decorated with flags. It was a huge day for Cooperstown. Exactly what Stephen Clark wanted.

[00:05:22] And they had their very first induction ceremony right in front of the new museum on Main Street. 11 of the 25 living inductees were there, including Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Hornace Wagner, and Walter Johnson. And baseball leaders such as the commissioner of the league, the president of the National League, and the American League president was there presiding over the ribbon cutting and the official opening of the hall to the public. After the induction, of course, they had a parade of players.

[00:05:51] Fans moved to a field they had put in the city called Doubleday Field for a special game. And this game was an exhibition game. And it featured 32 major league stars. Two from each of the 16 teams. Divided into teams chosen by Hornace Wagner and Eddie Collins. And the game was a highlight. Featuring players such as Dizzy Bean, Lefty Grove, and even Babe Ruth pinched hit. But Wagner's team did win. 4-2.

[00:06:20] And I wish they actually played this game today. Can you imagine all these old players coming back to play a game against each other? It would be fantastic. I would love to see that. But the real victory was for the Hall of Fame itself. So since they opened the Hall of Fame, it has continued to grow from a single gallery that it started out as into a 60,000 square foot state-of-the-art museum. Visited by over 17 million visitors across the world.

[00:06:49] And it has expanded to not only have players, but managers, umpires, executives, pioneers, and even include players that weren't in Major League Baseball. Such as the Negro League. In 1962, Jackie Robinson became the first African American inducted into the Hall of Fame. Breaking down another color barrier. And in 1971, they inducted their first Negro League player.

[00:07:12] And in 2006, they actually added 17 more Negro League figures to help show how vital this was to the game of the sport. Women and international players have been honored. And they're reaching out to everyone that has helped baseball at some point in their life. And the voting has actually evolved over time. They still maintain that 75% threshold.

[00:07:34] But candidates must have 10 years of Major League experience before retiring and be retired for five years before they are able to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. And there are special committees inducting other types of people that were overlooked or in various other parts of baseball. And they've adopted the motto of preserving history, honoring excellence, and connecting generations. And every year, they have the annual ceremony held every summer and remains a major event drawing fans.

[00:08:03] Drawing multiple fans. And as of 2024, they have inducted 346 individuals, which is 274 players, 39 executives and pioneers, 23 managers, and 10 umpires. But that doesn't mean they have luck every year. Because they have the threshold they have, there have been nine years where no player was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Started in 1945. And it last happened in 2021.

[00:08:31] And the Hall of Fame has done a lot of different things as well. They have band players, most notably Pete Rose, who after his death have removed the band and he will be allowed to be inducted if voted in. This is controversy.

[00:09:16] But that's the discussion that the Baseball Hall of Fame keeps being in. Every year we talk about the Hall of Fame. We talk about who should be in the Hall of Fame, who should not. Whether steroids were just a part of the game and they should be in. The question is, do you just let the best players in no matter what? Or do they have to have a moral code? That's up for the Hall of Fame to decide. I want to thank you for listening to today's Daily Sports History. If you like this, please make sure you like and subscribe wherever you're at.

[00:09:46] That way you don't miss a single episode. We'll see you on the next one.